


If We Could Turn Back Time

by MidnightBunnyy



Series: My time travel fics, of which I have too many [4]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Hogwarts House Sorting, Fix-It of Sorts, Gosh never thought id add that tag, Hogwarts Fourth Year, I actually have a playlist just for this fic thats only songs to take lyrics from and use as titles, I'm Bad At Summaries, Literally shes incredibly bad at her job, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Master of Death Harry Potter, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Burn, Swearing, Tags May Change, Time Travel, Unreliable Narrator, We have to drag her out of bed just to come narrate what these dorks are up to, Work and chapter titles taken from songs, irregular updates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-12
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-13 23:54:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28662039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MidnightBunnyy/pseuds/MidnightBunnyy
Summary: Harry dies in the graveyard.Except, that's not really what happens, is it? Because instead of going to the afterlife or whatever wizards have, he wakes up in the middle of a forest with Cedric Diggory and an annoyed owl. But it's not a normal forest, because Harry has never done anything normally.It's a forest in 1974.✳✳✳"Ok, then," a woman in a black pantsuit said, flipping a page on her clipboard. "Next up is... Cedric Diggory and Harry Potter! That's surprising, you weren't supposed to be here for anot... Nevermind, it's Tom Riddle again."She pulled up a chair and sat in front of the two boys, resting the clipboard against her leg. "Fate is going to be quite upset about that, they had big plans for you. As for you, little Master-" she turned to face Harry "-I don't know. We've never had this happen before. Then again, I've never had a 'master' before, much less one with a fucking horcrux duct taped to his head.""A what duct taped to my what? And who are you?""I haven't introduced myself yet?" She seemed surprised. "Oh, right, I haven't done that. Damn. Better late than never. Death, at your service." She held out her hand.
Relationships: Cedric Diggory & Harry Potter, James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Original Nonbinary Character/Original Female Character (background), Past Cedric Diggory/Cho Chang, Sirius Black & Remus Lupin & Peter Pettigrew & James Potter, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Series: My time travel fics, of which I have too many [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2102517
Comments: 3
Kudos: 28





	If We Could Turn Back Time

Harry Potter was dead, and it wasn't the nice kind of dead either, where you get to meet your dead family and friends. It was the kind where you sat in a waiting room with your also dead classmate who was reading an old copy of _Quidditch Monthly_ because you died Wrong and there were "complications" and "we have to wait for the boss to come down".

~~("There isn't a nice kind of death, Maria."~~

~~"Wha? Course there is, Terry! It's nice to go in your sleep rather than getting hit by a truck, isn't it?"~~

~~"That wasn't what I meant and you know it.")~~

He didn't know what "complications" were, but he did know that death didn't seem all that great.

 ~~("Of course not; it's~~ ~~_death_.~~ ~~"~~

~~"Terry, darling, light of my life, don't be so nega- oh nevermind, you're right.")~~

Martha, the receptionist, hadn't cleared anything up at all when Harry asked what was happening. Just told him that they would only have to wait a little longer before the boss got here, wherever here was. 

Martha was right, though. They didn't have to wait much longer before the boss came down, through a door Harry was sure hadn't been there a minute ago.

"Ok, then," a woman in a black pantsuit said, flipping a page on her clipboard. "Next up is... Cedric Diggory and Harry Potter! That's surprising, you weren't supposed to be here for anot... Nevermind, it's Tom Riddle again."

She pulled up a chair and sat in front of the two boys, resting the clipboard against her leg. "Fate is going to be _quite_ upset about that, they had big plans for you. As for you, little Master-" she turned to face Harry "-I don't know. We've never had this happen before. Then again, I've never had a 'master' before, much less one with a fucking horcrux duct taped to his head."

"A what duct taped to my what? And who are you?"

"I haven't introduced myself yet?" She seemed surprised. "Oh, right, I haven't done that. Damn. Better late than never. Death, at your service." She held out her hand.

Both boys stared at the appendage.

"Hmph, fine. I guess I could've done that a bit better. No need to stare, though." Death tapped a pen against her cheek. "Let's see, you don't know what a horcrux is? That's a simple enough answer. A horcrux is a storage container for half your soul, making you immortal to some degree."

"'To some degree'? What's that mean?" Cedric asked. 

"It means you can't move onto the afterlife even after your body dies (which I personally wouldn't consider immortality, as you aren't technically alive), keeping you stuck on the mortal plain as a spirit unless someone decides to dunk the object in basilisk venom, shoot a killing curse at it, or burn it with fiendfyre. It also means you have half your soul, making you half as sane and more likely to kill more people. Or less then that in Voldie's case, fucker made seven and has .78125% of his soul left, nasty business.

"Now, let's get down to business! And don't fucking say it Martha, I know you want to," Death leaned forward, placing her elbows on her knees. "If I don't let you two go back, Fate and Life are going to throw a fit. Life's already upset about how much Moldyshorts has upset his domain, and Fate's had to redo their tapestry so many times they've nearly gone insane!

"Of course, it's your choice, and I cannot be blamed if you end up a couple years younger than when you died, or if you end up before you were even born. That's Time's department, and Time's a bitch. If fae and Fate wanted you to, you'd end up seven years before you were even born, although I wouldn't be surprised if Mischief had a hand in that. Wouldn't be too far back though, and Fate'd take care of the paperwork and whatnot. Check your pockets.

"I'm pretty sure that's it... Martha, did I miss anything?"

"You didn't tell Harry about being the Master of Death and the Hallows, boss!"

"Oh right, those. Can't forget those," She chuckled. "Harry, you are the Master of Death, meaning you can't die, or at least you won't stay dead if you really don't want to, and you're the keeper of the Hallows. That does not mean you have any power whatsoever over me, you can not bring people back to life, et cetera. It does mean that the horcrux in your head-" she did a little zig-zag motion "- had no negative effects, and offed itself when you died.

"'Keeper of the Hallows' is just a fancy way of saying you have to take care of them, starting with gathering them and purging the soul shard from the resurrection stone.

"Now, as my master, you can summon me using all three Hallows, just don't do it too often. And you're als... Shit, this is going to take too long, I'm a busy primordial, I'll give you a book to explain everything you'll need to know about Master-of-Death-ing and horcruxes. I take it you both want to go back to the living realm?"

She had said this all very quickly, and both boys were a bit confused. 

Cedric looked at Harry. "What do you think?"

Harry hesitated. "If what she said about us ending up a few years back is true, we can't mess it up much more than it already is, right?"

~~("Nobody could mess it up more than Voldemort has already.")~~

Cedric nodded. "Right. I'll go back."

"Me too."

Death clapped her hands and waved at a door that had only appeared moments before. "Excellent; go through there, and Fate and Life will do the rest! Fair warning though, you'll end up where you're best needed (or where Mischief will have the most fun), so if you aren't at the graveyard, don't worry. I'll send the Hallows your way when you get there." 

The two hesitated at the door.

Death made a little shoo-shoo gesture. "Go on, I don't have all day."

Harry took a deep breath, and stepped through into the unknown.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's this? Another fic I have no idea where to take that was barely edited? More likely than you think!  
> As usual, comments, kudos, and bookmarks with nice notes are always welcome; they feed me and give me the energy to write.

**Author's Note:**

> Visit me on my tumblr, [duchessmb!](https://duchessmb.tumblr.com/#)  
> I'm looking for a beta! (As I have no knowledge the how British people talk, and my grammar and spelling is atrocious; talk to me at my tumblr or leave a comment if you're interested)


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